Rocky Mountain Gamer: Do video games correlate to reality?

Yes, Far Cry 3 is a violent game, but it also offers a lot of depth, a great story, graphics and voice-work. (Courtesy photo)

In the wake of the Newtown shooting -- the horrific tragedy in which 26 people, including 20 elementary school children, lost their lives -- a stunned nation seeks answers.

As the gun-control debate rages, other possible contributions to these violent incidents must be explored, including the question of violence in the media.

As someone who has played video games of every ilk for nearly 40 years and has earned a living writing about them for more than 20, I get a little protective of the industry that has given me so much.

But on that fateful December day, as I watched the details come out, became sickened by what I was hearing and numbed by the senselessness of it all, I felt guilty.

That day, my review of "Far Cry 3" -- one of the most violent games I've played -- was published. I gave it my highest score, an A+. I joked in my review about shooters in general and even wrote about "shooting people in the face" in the game.

My opinion of "Far Cry 3" hasn't diminished. It's an amazing game with a lot of depth and a great story, graphics and voice-work. It's also a first-person shooter game designed to give you the perspective of someone actually experiencing the on-screen events. It's designed to make you feel as if you are shooting people.

Let's be clear. "Far Cry 3" is rated "M," meaning it is intended strictly for those ages 17 and older. But let's be realistic: That doesn't mean someone younger than 17 won't play it.

Advertisement

I started going to "R" rated movies when I was about 12, sometimes under my parents' supervision and sometimes not. It wasn't right, it wasn't smart. My parents did a poor job supervising me and gave in far too easily to an immature, pubescent miscreant who wanted to see boobs and guns.

Fortunately, this exposure to violent media had little effect on my developing psyche.

I have never been a violent or aggressive person. I always try to face confrontation rationally, calmly and with kindness -- not that I haven't had my moments, since I am human.

But I love a good shoot-'em-up. Whether it be "Halo," "Call of Duty" or "Doom," my virtual body count reaches to the stars. I have also enjoyed shooting real guns -- handguns, rifles and shotguns -- but only at a shooting range.

For the record, years of playing video games have not helped my aim. I am rubbish with a pistol and rifle and only fair shooting skeet.

Playing violent video games (or watching movies and television shows, or seeing art or listening to music) does not cause violent actions. I base this on studies conducted over more than 25 years.

The most significant of these is a multiyear study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency and conducted by Harvard University's Center for Mental Health and the Media.

This extensive study resulted in the groundbreaking book, "Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do."

Published in 2008, the book looks for the truth about whether violent video games affect behavior and tries to dispel some myths surrounding this medium.

Among these myths is a correlation between an increase in video game sales and youth violence. The study looked at youth violence from 1994 to 2004 -- video game popularity skyrocketed during that period -- and found a 49 percent decrease in youth violence, including at schools.

We, as a society, cannot remove everything that might spur someone to commit a violent act. Everything from video games, cartoons, comic books, music and the Bible have been cited by unstable individuals to justify their actions.

Instead, we must be vigilant. Parents must pay attention to what their children are doing -- not just what games they are playing but how they are playing them.

If art reflects our world, the only conclusion we can come to is that our world is often a violent and scary place. If we try to make it less scary for each other, maybe we can contain the violence to our games and movies and, eventually, will see less of it in our towns.

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story